The Business of Fashion

Buying Wholesale Vendor Lists? You Need to Read This.

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Buying wholesale vendor lists – are they worth it?

I’m so excited to chat about today’s topic because it’s something I’ve wanted to talk about for a while, but was hesitant to because it’s somewhat of a controversial topic.

But today is the day that we’re going to dive right in and chat about developing your boutique’s unique brand list and whether or not you should be buying wholesale vendor lists.

Unsure what wholesale vendor lists even are? Don’t worry I’ll get into that too.

Ok…. Here we go! Let’s talk about curating a unique brand list for your boutique.

And I use the word unique because that’s exactly what it should be. It should be a list of unique vendors that align with you and your boutique brand that you can confidently offer your customers.

I fully believe there’s space for everyone’s boutique business, but that also means that you have to stand out and put you or your boutique’s unique story front and center.

You have to give people a reason to buy from you. Why are they going to choose to buy from you instead of someone else? What is it about you or your boutique that your customer will make a connection with?

Here are 4 things to consider when curating your brand list for your boutique:

1. Cost

What is the wholesale cost and what is your target customer willing to pay for that item?

2. Quality

Does your customer look for good quality and will pay for quality? Or is the most important thing to them an affordable price where quality isn’t as big of a factor.

3. Availability

Where else can customers buy this brand? Are these other stores or boutiques your competitors? And what are the vendor ship dates for their product?

4. Brand communication

Is the brand responsive to emails? Can you call them? Do they have a sales rep that you can develop a relationship with?

Now, I know one of the number one questions I always get is where to buy wholesale.

And the next question after that that I always get is if they can buy a wholesale vendor list from me.

So, what is a vendor list?

A vendor list is essentially a list someone (maybe a boutique owner) has put together a list of wholesalers and their contact information.

I get asked that question so often, that I have considered making a list for you. But every time I sit down to do it, I just don’t see the value in it.

And here’s why:

For starters, these wholesale brands are not a secret. They are equally available to every boutique.

And I can’t tell you which brands to buy from for your boutique unless I did an analysis of your boutique business and target customer.

What quality is to me may not be good enough quality for your brand or your boutique. The price that works for me and my business may not be the same for you.

So I feel as though it would be irresponsible for me to just hand you or charge you for a list of vendors and say hey use these when I know nothing about your business.

Instead, I prefer to empower you with the resources to research wholesale brands on your own. I prefer to recommend tradeshows or markets in different cities for you to attend, most who have virtual showrooms now for you to browse and start curating your brand list online.

And all of this is available for free.

What’s more is that if I sold you a wholesale vendor list – you would still have to do research! You would still have to go through a list and research whether or not these vendors will work for your business.

And do you really want to buy a wholesale vendor list that literally thousands of other boutique owners are using and buying from?

I know I don’t. I want my brand list to be unique to my boutique and especially curated just for my customers and clients.

And that is why I don’t sell wholesale vendor lists.

Phew… what a relief to get that off my shoulders. 🙂

What do you think about wholesale vendor lists? Comment below!

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